Bauer Media Audio Ireland (formerly Communicorp Group) is a media holding company based in Ireland, owned by

Bauer Media Group Heinrich Bauer Publishing (german: Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG), trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Hamburg. It operates worldwide and owns more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 r ...

History

Communicorp Group Ltd was formed by

Denis O'Brien Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is an Irish billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel. He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for a period of several ye ...

in 1989. It launched its radio operations in Ireland that same year and entered the Czech Republic in 1992. Later, it added stations in Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, and Hungary. Based in Dublin, the company now owns radio stations including Ireland's

Newstalk Newstalk (formerly NewsTalk 106) is a national independent radio station in Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Aut ...

Today FM Today FM is an Irish national commercial FM radio station, owned and operated by Bauer Audio Ireland Limited. Broadcasting since 17 March 1997, it broadcasts mostly music, with a daily news and current affairs programme. Today FM holds a l ...

, 98FM, SPIN 1038 and SPIN South West. By then, O'Brien owned both of Ireland's independent (non-state-operated) national radio stations. O'Brien's Communicorp was the highest bidder for

Emap Ascential plc, formerly EMAP, is a British business-to-business media business specialising in exhibitions & festivals and information services. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Rich ...

's Irish operations when that company decided to sell its radio stations, buying

FM104 FM104 is an independent local radio station broadcast across Dublin, Ireland, on the frequency 104.4 MHz. It is operated by Capital Radio Productions Limited (unconnected with, and not to be confused with, Capital Radio plc), and is a subs ...

Highland Radio Highland Radio is the local radio service for the County Donegal (North) franchise, operating under a licence from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI). Headquartered at the Mountain Top in Letterkenny, the station broadcasts throughout ...

and Today FM on 14 July 2007. In October 2007, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) approved Communicorp's proposed takeover of Today FM and Highland Radio, but not FM104. The deal was completed by January 2008. Due to a Competition Authority decision, Communicorp was required to sell-on FM104, which it did (to

UTV Media Wireless Group Limited is a radio and digital broadcasting network with headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland and with radio operations in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. It currently operates five stations in Ireland and ...

) immediately upon its acquisition. O'Brien offloaded Highland Radio in mid-2008. On 21 July 2008, a joint bid from

Boxer TV Access Boxer TV Access is a Swedish brand owned by Tele2 AB providing pay television channels on the digital terrestrial television network in Sweden. Modeled on the British ITV Digital, it was founded in October 1999. Some channels on the Swedish D ...

and Communicorp, supported by

BT Ireland BT Communications (Ireland) Limited is a telecommunications and internet company in Ireland. It is a subsidiary of BT Group plc. History Esat Telecom The company was founded in 1990 by a consortium headed by business magnate Denis O'Brien a ...

, were successful in obtaining three

digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...

multiplex Multiplex may refer to: * Multiplex (automobile), a former American car make * Multiplex (comics), a DC comic book supervillain * Multiplex (company), a global contracting and development company * Multiplex (assay), a biological assay which measu ...

contracts from the BCI. Boxer DTT Limited withdrew from its agreement to provide a DTT platform on 20 April 2009. The group divested its assets in Latvia, Finland and the Czech Republic in 2012; Hungary in 2013. On 6 February 2014, Communicorp announced it would be acquiring eight UK stations from

Global Radio Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrys ...

, subject to review by Ireland's Competition Authority. The stations were required to be sold off by the Competition Commission following Global's acquisition of GMG Radio in 2012. The formation of Communicorp UK on 1 April 2014, headquartered in Manchester, allowed Communicorp UK to be operated as an independent operating arm. The Bulgarian stations were sold in 2018. A restructuring of Communicorp Group at the same year later ceded Communicorp UK's control to O'Brien, making it an independent company. In February 2021, Bauer Media Group announced it was to acquire Communicorp Group subject to regulatory approval. The acquisition was completed on 1 June 2021 and the company was renamed to Bauer Media Audio Ireland.

Stations

;Ireland * 98FM *

* SPIN 1038 * SPIN Southwest *

* TXFM (30% ownership; closed in 2016) ;United Kingdom (Communicorp UK) * Capital South Wales * Capital Scotland *

Heart Hertfordshire Heart Hertfordshire (previously known as ''Hertfordshire's Mercury 96.6'') is a local radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts across Hertfordshire from studios in Watford. In ...

Heart North Wales Heart North and Mid Wales is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to North and Mid Wales from studios in Gwersyllt, near Wrexham.

Heart Yorkshire Heart Yorkshire (previously Real Radio Yorkshire) is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to South and West Yorkshire from studios in Leeds.

XS Manchester XS Manchester is an Independent Local Radio station serving Greater Manchester, broadcasting a mix of indie and alternative rock music, speech and news output. The station is owned and operated by Communicorp UK and broadcasts from studios at ...

* Smooth East Midlands * Smooth North East *

Smooth North West Smooth North West is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Smooth network. The station broadcasts to the North West of England from studios at Spinningfields in Manchester. History GMG Radio ...

:(All with the exception of XS Manchester under licence from

Other subsidiaries

Communicorp have an interest in the digital and PR agency ICAN, and previously (through its subsidiary Demirca) also operated the online marketplace AppliancesDelivered.ie. The latter began as a magazine called 'Buy & Sell', and changed ownership several times, before being acquired in 2015 and rebranded in 2016. AppliancesDelivered.ie ceased operations in 2019.

References

{{Authority control 2021 mergers and acquisitions Bauer Media Group Irish companies established in 1989 Companies based in Dublin (city) Mass media companies established in 1989 Mass media companies of Ireland Pan-European media companies Radio stations in Northern Ireland Radio stations in the Republic of Ireland